Bank of America Wire Transfer: Lost in Space!

I made a Bank of America wire transfer on 12 June 2010. The money was to be transferred to an account of mine at another bank. However, 10 days later there was no trace of my money in either bank accounts.

It seems that I have unwillingly made a 10+ day ZERO interest loan to Bank of America. That was definitely not what I'd intended to do when I made my wire transfer on June 12th!

Over the past ten days I have sent numerous emails to Bank of America - to no avail. The bank refuses to tell me what it has done with my money. It does not appear in any of my bank accounts and I have no access to it. So where is it?

Anybody else having problems with Bank of America "borrowing" their money (at a 0% interest rate)? If so, please let me know how you resolved this matter - short of calling an attorney, the Better Business Bureau, the Consumer Protection Agency, etc.

Now I have a better understanding as to why Bank of America is number two on the list of The LEAST Trustworthy Companies In America !

 

 

 

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Comments

[Douglas Campbell]

11:58 PM on 06/26/2010

I paid a bill online through BofA and somehow the money never arrived, even though I had more than enough money in the account and a savings acct to make sure to cover any problems.

I ended up paying over $50.00 for a returned check and late fees. BofA said they have no record or anything....

[Iris Mack]

06:15 PM on 06/26/2010

FYI, some of my research indicates that various class action lawsuits have been filed against Bank of America:
http://www.google.ch/search?hl=en&as_q=bank+of+america&as_epq=class+action+lawsuit&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images

[owe35]

05:37 PM on 06/23/2010

If we did what Bank of America did the FBI would come to your house and arrest you.

[owe35]

05:36 PM on 06/23/2010

They are the worst! A couple of years ago the stopped denying charges when your check card had a zero balance. They would let it through and charge 35$ per transaction. Over two days I wracked up $500 in charges before I knew it. It was like 15 transactions each was for like a cup of coffee or cigs or gum 35 each. They are truly awful.

[cdecisneros]

03:10 PM on 06/23/2010

BOA used to screw up my credit card payments. Now I pay them in cash at the branch where they cannot possible mess it up.

[MeanWorldSyndrome]

01:28 PM on 06/23/2010

The BOA wire room should be able to trace your wire using the Federal Reference Number. This number is generated once the wire room keys in the details of your wire request and is a confirmation that the funds are sent. The trace may take a few days but try bypassing the teller and speak directly with the wire room.

[Robert Cantor]

01:27 PM on 06/23/2010

BofA dont care? they dont have to?

[DalaiLama]

12:58 PM on 06/23/2010

Banks do this stuff all the time and the only way to make them change their ways is to take your money out of these institutions. They do the same thing when using debit cards, purchases come out immediately, returns and credits usually take a week.

[Iris Mack]

11:42 AM on 06/23/2010

Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it. Also, thanks for the useful information.

After 10 days, Bank of America put part of my money back into my account - without a clear explanation of what happened. I sent them an email inquiring why the total amount has not been replaced. Still waiting. Once this is done, I will be moving my money.

FYI, Bank of America is now following me on twitter.

[CitizenCitizen56]

07:11 PM on 06/22/2010

How come Western Union is able to make wire transfers in the same day, but TBTF bailed out banks like Bank of America are too incompetent to do so?

[Iris Mack]

11:29 AM on 06/23/2010

Yes, that is very interesting. Perhaps the TBTF banks can learn a thing or two from Western Union.

[steppenwolfsayshi]

06:42 PM on 06/22/2010

Another great article!
And sorry, I no idea what to do about banks. or credit card companies or debt collectors or car dealers or pay day loans or mortgage brokers. They all steal peoples money and we have no recourse. Legislation is the only solution, but the government is tone deaf to our everyday problems.

[CitizenCitizen56]

07:13 PM on 06/22/2010

Maybe we should keep on our "tone deaf" government and remind them that they are our public servants - not the servants of the banks, credit card companies, mortgage companies, etc.!

[Majestry]

06:26 PM on 06/22/2010

This is why wire transfers these days take 3-5 business days. It doesn't take that long except the bank wants to use your money for a couple days to make money off it. Yay overnight loans!

[William H Saito]

09:27 AM on 06/23/2010

In Japan, wire transfers are the norm (since there are no such things as personal checks). Having gotten used to the instant transfer and simplicity of the system, I always wondered what took so long. However, I've noticed that 3 (all different) of my U.S. banks does transfers close to instantly (~5 minutes) on domestic-to-domestic transfers with proper ABA codes and that even international transfers only take about 12 hours. Wires that do take longer have usually (in my case) been with the wrong ABA codes where the transfer in and transfer out codes were different.

[Iris Mack]

11:35 AM on 06/23/2010

William, I agree with you about the speed of wire transfers. I never have problems with them when using my European bank account.

Regarding your comment of the "wrong ABA code", I emailed Bank of America via my secure online account over a 10 day period. If this was the case, it seems they could have easily have informed me that the information was incomplete or incorrect - especially because my money was no longer available for me to access. That seems fraudulent.

[kd1s]

02:24 PM on 06/22/2010

Banks of today are what I'd term criminal enterprises.

[propitiousmoment]

02:23 PM on 06/22/2010

Good luck to you....

[Sunshine1970]

02:23 PM on 06/22/2010

You may want to check this out on Consumrist.com:
http://consumerist.com/2010/06/unpublished-number-for-bank-of-america-online-banking-support.html

or this:
http://consumerist.com/2010/04/reach-bank-of-americas-ceo.html

Hopefully it'll help

[Iris Mack]

11:36 AM on 06/23/2010

Thanks, I appreciate the links.